Vegetarian Weekdays....Vege-WHAT?!

So its nothing new that vegetarian and vegan lifestyles are becoming more and more popular. I attempted becoming a vegetarian for about a month last summer. I accidentally watched one of those horrifying PETA videos where they show you how unbelievably cruel people are to the animals that we eat. I cried watching it, and I only watched maybe half it was so awful and sad. After watching the video it made me disgusted to eat meat at all because I felt so insanely bad for those poor animals. At the beginning it was pretty easy eating just vegetables all the time.  (The meatless hot-dogs were the biggest turn off though. I don't even know WHAT those things were. Yuck.) However veggie sammiches were quite delicious it turns out. I actually still eat them today even though I went back to eating meat. My long and boring point is that being a vegetarian and/or vegan are really not the hardest things to do. The only reason I stopped by the way is because I love meat. I live on chicken and cheeseburgers are my absolute favorite food in the whole world. I have a necklace with a hamburger to prove it. True story. 

What sparked this blog is that more and more I keep hearing about people saying how great being a vegetarian/vegan is. The health benefits and how great you feel and all that good stuff. Well it seems as though those people are being heard. According to a blog article on Glamour.com, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has officially ordered that Mondays now become Meatless Mondays. They are encouraging restaurants, grocery stores, and even schools to offer vegetarian friendly options and food goers and buyers to not consume and/or buy meat on Mondays. Officials say that they are against the meat industry because of what the meat packing plants do to the environment, how they treat most animals in those plants, and also for health reasons. People who eat less read meat are less likely to have cardiovascular disease or high cholesterol. 

I think that Meatless Mondays are a fantastic idea. I often have this conversation with my parents, who are huge organic food nuts. At this point in time almost every item of food in my house right now is organic. And it's really difficult for my dad to find a lot of organic food. He often travels to Brooklyn to an organic butcher to stock up on meat for us. We always talk about how we should eat more like vegetarians because when you eat a lot of vegetable dishes, it's actually quite filling. Or using products such as tofu as a main dish makes it feel like you're eating an entire meal and more satisfied. 

I don't think I will be going back to my meatless ways anytime in the near future. However my love of vegetables does make me consider it every now and then. And despite the fact that I just ate a bowl from Chipotle with chicken in it, I totally could have eaten the entire thing minus the chicken. All the veggies and rice made it that tasty. 

If you would like to read the blog post where I read about this you can click here. Have a great Monday everyone! And if its Meatless Monday for you, more power to ya. 

I'm Addic....I'm Addicted to you....

There are lots of things in this world that everyone is obsessed with. Losing weight. Celebrities. Justin Bieber. Something else I noticed that everyone is obsessed with lately is Addiction. 

There is a ridiculous amount of shows that center around the topic of Addiction. Mainly alcohol and drug addiction. There is Intervention on A&E. Addicted on TLC. I saw an ad for a show on addiction on CNN. What is with everyone's obsession with other people's addictions? I understand the curiosity because as someone who does not do drugs, sure I'm a little curious how they work and what happens when you take them. Clearly you get addicted. But when did this obsession to find more information come about?

Perhaps this is the only way people can experience what happens when taking these drugs without actually harming themselves. I have no idea. The only thing I do know is that everyone seems to really want to tune-in, and find out. 

It's kind of interesting that people are getting equally addicted to watching programs that revolve around other people's addictions. Maybe there should be shows on how much people are addicted to watching television. Would that even get the point across? Which brings me to another point (in case anyone is wondering about the direction of this blog...I'm not sure. It's going to be kind of a stream of consciousness kind of day. And you're going to like it).

The point, as far as I can see, of most of these addiction shows, is to show you how harmful the effects of drugs/drinking can be. Not only to the person doing them but also to the people around them and how substance abuse can basically destroy their life. Shouldn't that be some kind of warning to all the viewers? DO NOT DO DRUGS. YOU WILL BE SICK. YOU WILL DIE. YOU WILL HURT EVERYONE YOU LOVE. And yet, producers for these shows keep finding more and more people to be a part of the show. 

Not to mention they keep finding more people to be on Intervention. How is that? Do the drug users spend all their money on drugs so much so that they don't have a television and have never seen the show? How do they keep finding people to be on Intervention and not have any idea they're going to be intervened by everyone they know and love. Riddle me that.(I'm aware that most of these people are probably so drugged up they have no idea what is going on. But come on. Not one of them suspects something weird? Or has seen the show at all? Really?)

So back to my earlier point I was trying to make. Clearly watching all of these shows on how addicting drugs and alcohol are and how harmful they can be to every aspect of your life, is not really being very educational. It's possible the shows are being educational in the sense that you might say to yourself "Oh gross, I didn't know that doing meth can make your teeth rot so bad!" (I actually did learn this from watching an episode of True Life). But are people really saying to themselves "Oh wow look at that...I am never doing drugs!" or "Yikes, I don't want drinking to take over my life like that!". Probably not. I'm also pretty sure people are more likely to say "I will never do drugs" than the word 'Yikes'. Obviously these shows are not as educational as they could be, since there seems to be a never ending supply of people to be featured on them.
Clearly this obsession with people's terrible addictions is going to continue until we all find something better to be interested in. Or until Justin Bieber's voice changes. WHAT WILL WE DO THEN???

Movie Time! Hot Tub Time Machine...I kind of want one

(Warning: if you have not seen this movie then I suggest you stop reading because I am holding nothing back regarding what happens in this movie. Therefore if you continue reading, you are hereby not allowed to blame me for ruining the ending for you. Neener Neener Neener)

The Cast: So much like She's Out of My League, this cast was kind of weird. Weird in the sense that it had a bunch of people that you love in moves you've seen in the past, but it was weird to see them all together in this movie. Besides that fact it involves the amazing John Cusack, Clark Duke, Craig Robinson, and Rob Corddry.

I actually loved this cast. Yes it was a weird mix of people but individually they were all amazing. John Cusack is amazing for reasons I really shouldnt have to mention. The fact that he was wearing an outfit for almost the entire movie that was from...basically every 80s movie he was ever in kind of made my day. 

For those that do not watch the TV show Greek (and you should because its awesome) you may not recognize Clark Duke. For me hes one of those young actors who is slowly being noticed for how sarcastic and hilarious he is. His humor is subtle and dry and I love him a lot. He had some pretty hysterical key lines in this movie. He was also one of the background characters in Superbad. He's in the gazebo at the party with Becca. True story.

I feel like I shouldn't even have to talk about who Craig Robinson is. If you dont know who he is then that makes me very very nervous for you. He has some of the best lines in this movie as well. And one amazing scene that involves him in an 80s cover band singing Jessie's Girl to a crowd in a bar. Which if you took the 80s clothes away, would be any Friday or Saturday night in any bar anywhere today. Kind of hilarious...kind of pathetic. 

Another breakout actor that I think is also slowly being noticed for how hilarious he is is Rob Coddry. I've seen him in a few movies before but he was never this hilarious. And I actually loved him in the Breakup Kid, when he talks about how he was "Growing out the bangs" for his wife. Haha I love that. But he is the main character in this movie with the most action and most of the really hilarious (yes disgusting) lines and scenes. 

The Plot: In case the title didn't give it all away immediately, the movie is about a group of friends (technically 3 best friends and one nephew) who had the best time in the 80s and then their lives all changed and became really shitty. They decide to go back to a winter resort where they had the most amazing night ever and when they arrive they discover a hot tub that somehow transports them back to that very amazing night in 1986. They realize in order to get back (and make sure the nephew is still around in the present) they need to re-do everything exactly how it was done. Except of course, nothing really goes to plan and hilarity ensues involving sex, drugs, some rock and roll, and lots and lots of 80s movies references. Not even references really, more like re-creations.

The Real Deal: I'm realizing its hard to describe what a movie is actually about and still sound like it was good. My description above sounds bland and boring but the movie itself was really hilarious. I was not expecting it to be so funny. To be honest, there were so many hilarious lines, some I feel were un-noticed by the audience because they were still laughing from a previous joke, that it was hard to remember some specifically. But if you are looking for a funny yet gross, blast from the 80s past kind of movie with a funny yet heartwarming ending, then this movie is for you. 

Movies to see before this one so you get most of the references: (and also because they are so inconically amazing) Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, Say Anything